“It was very shocking,” Dickey said. “I was hoping that it was wrong and that it wasn’t true.”

He got the call from a former student manager that he knew from his Oklahoma State days — Dickey was an assistant coach for the Oklahoma State men from 2002-2008 — with the news. It hit Dickey hard, who was close friends with Budke.

Dickey has known Budke since Budke arrived in Stillwater. Dickey’s wife, Bettye, was on the search committee that hired Budke has the head coach of the squad. Budke’s son even came to Dickey’s annual basketball camp this year. Dickey and Budke used to speak almost daily since their offices were down the hall from each other at Oklahoma State.

“He was a great guy,” Dickey said. “Had a great smile. A great family man. Loved the game. Great friend.”

Former UH women’s basketball coach Jessie Kenlaw, who coached Serna when Serna spent her only season at UH in 1996-97, was also surprised to hear the news.

Kenlaw, who is no longer in coaching and works for a sports agency in Atlanta, said that Serna was passionate about basketball.

“Basketball was her passion,” Kenlaw said. “She was a very committed player, she was very intense, just an excellent person to have on your team. She displayed, leadership and skills.

“She idolized coach Budke. She was doing something that she absolutely loved and she was doing it with someone that she idolized. It was very very sad and devastating to hear that.”

News of this sort can hit the coaching community hard, especially when it occurs the way it did – on a plane trip.

“It’s just shocking,” Kenlaw said. “It’s something that makes you think twice because it’s what we do naturally. You don’t even think about getting on a plane and that you might not be getting off. Travel is a part of coaching, so when anything tragic like that happens, it’s pretty devastating.”

UH women’s coach Todd Buchanan, who is on the road with his team as it prepares to face Georgetown, recruited Serna in the 1990s when Buchanan was at the University of Montevallo. Buchanan got the news from Dickey and issued the following thoughts in a statement:

“Upon receiving the devastating news from coach Dickey earlier this morning I was in disbelief and overcome with sadness and anger. First and foremost our deepest sympathies and thoughts and prayers go to Kurt and Miranda’s families as well as the entire Oklahoma State family especially the women’s basketball program. Everybody knows Kurt was a great coach and recruiter but he was also a wonderful person an incredible role model for all student-athletes. Miranda was such a phenomenal young talent. She had a million-dollar smile every day and was one of the most positive and energetic people I’ve ever had the privilege to know and call a friend, which goes all the way back to having recruited her in the late 1990s. Kurt and Miranda will be deeply missed but certainly never forgotten in our hearts.”